A woman who previously lived in Staffordshire killed her two young children while they slept in a Spanish hotel room and spent the night with their bodies, a jury has heard.

Lianne Smith, 45, has admitted suffocating daughter Rebecca Smith, five, and 11-month-old son Daniel with a plastic bag at the Miramar Hotel in Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava in May 2010.

She went on trial at the Provincial Court in Girona, north-east Spain, so a jury can determine whether she is criminally responsible for the children's deaths.

Her defence is seeking an acquittal, claiming she was in a state of "psychiatric disturbance" and suffering insurmountable fear when the tragedy happened. If found guilty, she faces a total of 38 years in prison.

The killings took place shortly after her partner, Martin Smith, was arrested in Barcelona by Spanish police acting on a European Arrest Warrant. He was deported to the UK.

The family had been living in Spain since 2007 after fleeing Lichfield, Staffordshire, when Mr Smith was accused of sexually abusing a young girl.

Victor Pillado Quintas, prosecuting, said in his opening statement: "At around 9pm on May 17 2010, the defendant was in room 101 (at the Miramar Hotel) with her two children.

"After ending the lives of her children she spent the night with their lifeless bodies."

The prosecutor said that at 1.30pm the following day, Smith went to the Miramar's reception and asked for the police and an ambulance to be called. She immediately confessed to the police and the judicial authorities that she had ended the children's lives.

Mr Pillado Quintas told the jury of three women and eight men: "You will have to decide whether Lianne Smith knew that she was killing her children and whether she knew it was wrong, or whether she was suffering a mental disease at the time."